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Does Facebook have a political bias against conservatives? SOPA Images Facebook on Tuesday released an interim report about potential political bias at the company. One conclusion: Trust is an “elusive goal.” The report — part of an ongoing review process — comes after Republican lawmakers have repeatedly accused the social media company of bias against conservatives.The review has been led by former Sen. Jon Kyl, a Republican from Arizona, and his law firm Covington & Burling. As part of the review, the group interviewed conservative groups, individuals and lawmakers who either use, study or could potentially regulate Facebook. They found that people were concerned that there was bias against their viewpoints resulting in disproportionate enforcement from the social media company. Kyl offered his preliminary findings to Facebook in August 2018, and the social network implemented changes in response. This included the creation of an oversight board made up of different ideological and religious views to hear appeals regarding content that had been removed; more transparency with its news-feed rankings, pages and ads; and hiring more staff to deal with questions and complaints about content decisions. “We believe these and other measures described in our interim report are steps in the right direction,” Kyl said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Tuesday. “Yet these are complicated issues, some of which involve conflicting opinions even among conservatives. For that reason, restoring trust fully may remain an elusive goal. Conservatives no doubt will, and should, continue to press Facebook to address the concerns that arose in our survey.”Facebook says Kyl and his team will report again in the coming months. “When dealing with such nuanced issues, involving policies that apply to billions of posts, we will inevitably make some bad calls, some of which may appear to strike harder at conservatives,” Nick Clegg, vice present of global affairs and communications, said Tuesday in a statement. “That’s why it is so important that we work to make sure this process is free of bias, intended or not. After all, we can say that we welcome political expression on our platform all we want, but it won’t mean much unless people trust that we craft and apply our rules fairly.”Facebook began its political bias review in May 2018, the same time that it started a civil rights audit. The social media company, along with Twitter and Google, appeared before Congress on July 2018 to discuss how their platforms filter content. All three companies reiterated that there is no political bias in those decisions. The next month, a report from a group of Facebook employees criticized the company’s largely liberal workplace. Advocacy groups who pushed for the civil rights audit criticized the social media giant for agreeing to conduct a report about allegations of political bias.”Claims of anticonservative bias are simply an attempt to distract users and the media from the conservative movement’s attacks against black communities and other marginalized groups,” said Color of Change President Rashad Robinson in a statement.Some US lawmakers raised concerns about how the audit was conducted. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, said Facebook should give a third party access to its algorithm, key documents and its content moderation guidelines. “Merely asking somebody to listen to conservatives’ concerns isn’t an ‘audit,’ it’s a smokescreen disguised as a solution,” he said.Originally published Aug. 20, 8:30 a.m. PT.Update, 12:40 p.m.: Includes reaction from civil rights groups and lawmakers. Facebook Mobile Culture Computers Politics Share your voice Tags Comments 26read more

IBTimes VideoRelated VideosMore videos Play VideoPauseMute0:03/2:37Loaded: 0%0:03Progress: 0%Stream TypeLIVE-2:34?Playback Rate1xChaptersChaptersDescriptionsdescriptions off, selectedSubtitlessubtitles settings, opens subtitles settings dialogsubtitles off, selectedAudio Trackdefault, selectedFullscreenThis is a modal window.Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaqueFont Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadowFont FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall CapsReset restore all settings to the default valuesDoneClose Modal DialogEnd of dialog window. COPY LINKAD Loading … All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, Odisha [Representational Image]Wikimedia CommonsAll India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh landed was recently slapped a fine of Rs 60,000 for a false HIV positive diagnosis. While the diagnosis was done in 2014, the fine was imposed after Naseem Ali, a patient, approached the Haridwar consumer court. One of the reasons cited for the fine was “giving an incorrect HIV report to a fit person,” reports The Times of India.In 2014, Ali had visited a private hospital in Roorkee after he discovered that his blood was not clotting. He then went to AIIMS Rishikesh only to be given the diagnosis that he was HIV positive.In July 2014, Ali underwent more tests at Shri Mahant Indiresh Hospital and the reports came back stating that he was HIV negative.Angered, Ali filed a complaint at the district consumer forum in Haridwar. AIIMS Rishikesh will now have to pay Ra 50,000 and an extra Rs 10,000 for “wasting the complainant’s time and energy” within a month or the institution will have to pay six per cent interest to the complainant annually. The court also said that the tests caused severe mental trauma for the man as well as social problems due to the stigma surrounding HIV.The directive came out on April 22 and read, “Ensure payment of Rs 50,000 and Rs 10,000 within one month for incorrect treatment. And in case the amount is not paid within a month, then you will be liable to pay this amount at 6% annual interest.”AIIMS Rishikesh is planning on filing an appeal at a higher court. “We will appeal against the judgment in the state consumer forum. It was a documentation error and probably the very next day, it became clear to the patient that his report was negative. And nowhere in the discharge papers was it mentioned that the patient was HIV positive,” Dr Manoj Kumar, the spokesperson of the institute, was quoted as saying by TOI. Close Ragpicker’s son gets selected at Jodhpur AIIMS for MBBS, says want to work for his villageread more

Dhaka has made certain breakthroughs in the process of bringing back death-row convicts of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case, law minister Anisul Huq has indicated.Diplomats in Washington said on Monday that the United States government has ‘some interest’ in extraditing AM Rashed Chowdhury, one of such convicts who is now living there under political asylum.The government of Bangladesh has started the communication process to bring back two more convicts after being certain that Shariful Haque Dalim is staying in Spain and Moslem Uddin in Germany.However, Canada, a country which opposes death penalty, refuses to hand over another convict in the Bangabandhu murder case – Noor Chowdhury.Dhaka does not know where two others – Khandaker Abdur Rashid and Abdul Mazed – are currently living, foreign ministry officials admit.The law minister told Prothom Alo earlier on 2 August that, “Death penalty has not been abolished in the US. So, the US has no point why AM Rashed Chowdhury shall not be extradited… What I can say is that there has been certain breakthroughs in the process.”On extradition of Noor Chowdhury from Canada, Anisul Huq, a lawyer by profession, said that they have continued discussions with Canada.Anisul Huq is the head of the taskforce the government earlier formed to bring back the convicts of the murder case of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was killed on 15 August 1975 in a coup d’etat.Foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali, during his visit to US in February of 2015, requested Washington to extradite Rashed Chowdhury. Three months later, a US legal consultancy firm named Skadden LLP was hired to expedite the process of extradition of Rashed Chowdhury.Former president Barack Obama’s law consultant Gregory Craig, now representing the firm, is monitoring the case. He and his colleagues had held a series of meetings with the officials of US departments including the state department and the homeland security. The matter was brought to the attention of the then US attorney general Stuart Bruce.Following foreign minister Mahmood Ali’s request to the US law office last year for extraditing Rashed Chowdhury, Skadden LLP informed Dhaka that the US is positive about extraditing Rashed Chowdhury.In June 2007, the US government sent back another convict in the case KM Mohiuddin, who failed to get political asylum, and who had already been executed.When asked about progress in bringing back Moslem Uddin, Bangladesh ambassador to Berlin Imtiaz Ahmed declined to make any comment.Also, Bangladesh ambassador to Madrid, Hasan Mahmud Khandaker did not make any comment on Dalim’s stay in Spain.Both Germany and Spain have already abolished the death penalty as punitive measure for serious offence.Foreign ministry officials in Dhaka said Canada has not yet completed the pre-risk removal assessment of possible extradition of Noor Chowdhury although the Canadian high court rejected his appeal for political asylum.A three-member Bangladesh delegation held discussion with Canadian authorities in April about forming a taskforce for bringing him back. The two sides may hold talks again in December.Abdur Rashid, a key convict, is believed to have been staying in Islamabad. Dhaka has sought information from Islamabad about his stay in Pakistan. No reply came in this regard till date.The government is yet to trace the whereabouts of Abdul Mazed.*This report, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Rabiul Islam.read more